new Beta Suggestions

I've been testing the new beta for a bit. I'm an experienced dealer, have been in the business for 40 years and am a Certified Antique Appraiser as well as an expert on the Antique Road Show. I was curious about Worthpoint and was hoping it would provide worthwhile information.

While there are a number of issues with the old search engine, the new one, while better, has several quirks I would suggest correcting prior to release. The glaring one is the lack of a "Date of record". With the industry vastly transformed over the past five years and many prices down to half what they were, a search without an imboarded date is not particularly relevant or useful. One can sort by "sale date", however, no sale date is displayed.

Additionally, on the "Large thumbnail" search, it would be wise to have a hover that expands the image to complete rather than a small slice of the image.

This could be a great program for sifting through lots at an auction, however, in it's present form, it runs the significant danger of providing vastly inflated pricing realized from years ago for present day finds. Bill

Your Date of Record observation is astute. I agree it's important all data be presented in a practical, meaningful and relevant context. This is particularly crucial for Worthpoint members searching the Worthopedia for objects unfamiliar to them.

On my Worthopedia Wish List? A graph plotting the range of prices realized over time, which could prove useful as a quick reference tool.

Agree wholeheartedly about the date. I tried the new beta yesterday and the first thing I noticed was that the date was missing. I'm a new worthpoint user (3 days) and while I love the idea, I can't seem to understand why everything in the research database is 6 months old. Worthpoint makes it easy to see a large amount of info in a concise fashion, but truly, just using Ebay completed auctions is a more accurate representation of true value since you're seeing sales that have completed in the last couple months. I wonder if Worthpoint is working on a way to more quickly update their databases. As far as the new beta, I really like the improvements....it's getting there.

Would also be nice to see some type of stat that identifies how many of a certain item "did not sell" vs "did sell". For example, if I research item X and see that 5 have sold for $50 range, it would be helpful to know if 500 haven't sold at all....